Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

14 reviews

ethanlaz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Vomit, Sexual content, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Violence, Suicide, Medical trauma, Dementia, Cursing, Blood, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Gore, Death, Cancer, Body horror, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Infidelity, Medical content, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

chloebowie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Well… it was good enough to keep turning the page but bad enough to where I couldn’t tell you what happened 😅 it was everything and nothing all at once. Nothing was ever really resolved. It’s just stopped. 

If this weren’t a buddy read I don’t think I would’ve finished it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Animal death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Rape

quixie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Abandonment, Gun violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Bullying, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Suicide, Blood, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Death, Gore, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

abandonedmegastructure's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

House of Leaves explores the very limits of what can be done with ink on paper.

A suspenseful tale of exploration into the unknown is enhanced with layers of symbolism, discussion, meta-discussion, and mythological allusions. The result is an enthralling novel, fundamentally mysterious yet deeply compelling, which invites its reader to join in the analytical discussions that take center stage from time to time. The book plays with page structure, footnotes, the fourth wall, text markup, and anything else you could imagine. It goes beyond having an unreliable narrator and straight-up invites us to question the narrator's existence; just another part of the fun it's having exploring the concept of writing (not writing - chronicling? depicting? recording? knowing?) itself. It touches on themes of cosmic horror, religion, mental illness, and the human subconscious, though if I had to pin down a single theme I'd say this is a book about absences first and foremost.

I realize I might be making this book sound like a pretentious tome that's more concerned with being clever than being readable. And to be fair, there are some pseudo-academic bits that go on for too long, and they're the reason I'm not giving this a 5/5. But the various narratives interwoven through the book are insanely well-written and evocative (not to mention disturbing), the main characters slowly reveal more of their fascinating yet flawed selves, and the references and metatextual elements add to their stories, rather than distracting from them. Even when viewed purely as a story, House of Leaves holds up extremely well; everything else is just a bonus.

A final thought: I've seen a lot of people call this a horror novel, and I get where they're coming from, but I found the text intriguing more than scary even at the most uncanny points. If you've been put off by the horror label, and would otherwise have considered reading the book, I encourage you to try it out anyway.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Child abuse, Sexual content, Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Child death, Sexual violence, Body horror, Rape, Infidelity, Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Suicide

mobymaize's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book is very important. Reading it, at times, is very much a challenge. I had fun with it, despite taking me nearly 5 months to read. Take into advice the first line of House of Leaves: This is not for you, but the novel is also very interesting, so you might want to read it. Be prepared to flip your book upside down, and to be interrupted in the middle of a description of abyssal hallways leading on for infinity with a (NSFW)

very explicit scene where a main character gets a finger up his butt and cums from it

. Great & wild book, will never read again /pos.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Mental illness, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Violence, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Vomit

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Lesbophobia

hazelbynature's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Gaslighting, Death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Murder, and Sexual content

Moderate: Incest, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Drug use, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Gun violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Body horror, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Excrement, Vomit, Bullying, Terminal illness, and Cancer

magicant's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Gun violence, Rape, Alcoholism, Cursing, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, and Violence

Moderate: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Vomit, Suicide, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Violence, Physical abuse, Confinement, Sexual content, Addiction, and Drug use

lindsaylhunter's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The sheer amount of work, energy and intellect that went into the crafting of this book is nothing short of extraordinary. This is one of the most challenging books I've ever read and, I'll admit, the only reason I sat down to read it in the first place was because of its insane formatting. Tense, creepy and downright unsettling, this is one of the only books I've ever read that left me with an uneasiness that has bled into my dreams.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Gun violence

Minor: Infidelity and Rape

ellie_rowo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Sexual content, Cursing, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Cancer, and Gun violence

blobvis's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Alright people be like "I can't describe this book" and I think they're not trying hard enough lol

Anyways, this books follows the story of Johnny who found the so called Navidson records, an essay about a film that probably has never existed and is written by the man who lived in the apartment before him. As the reader you are experiencing the story of Navidson at the same time as Johnny is. Which it think it pretty neat. What makes this book fun however is not the endless, quite boring footnotes with Johnny's drugs and sex life, or the long explanation about why there is a parallel between Navidson and his brother and a part of the Bible. What makes it interesting is how the writer uses lettering, spacing and the layout of the pages to emphasise the scenes. Something that made me laugh in wonder because I did not expect to have tot turn the book upside down to read it further.
Sometimes the pages only contain a few words making you turn the pages quickly and feeling the tension of the scene and the feelings of the characters in twofold.
As well as I think that it's interesting that the deeper Navidson goes into the house the more unstable Johnny becomes. I really like how there are so much parallels between the essay and Johnny's life, and between the characters in the essay itself (although the essay seems to be mainly written to find those parallels). I do love the editors' footnotes, they made me laugh. And in the end I didn't mind Johnny's footnotes that much because they became less frequent and more focused aka he stopped doing drugs and stopped talking about how much he fucked. And I did like reading his last notes on the book.

In any case I basically read a rather interesting essay instead of a book so 4 stars because it's just really creative and I love creativity 

And as I heard there are some secrets in it too as well as an dedicated community to find it. Not my cup of tea but maybe for others the reason to read it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Death of parent, Addiction, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse